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[The newly released audio of General Hendropriyono is embedded in the article below.

The text version of this piece was printed on this website on October 27, 2014 under the title: "Breaking News: Gen. Hendropriyono Admits "Command Responsibility" in Munir Assassination. Says Talangsari Victims "Committed Suicide." Agrees to Stand Trial for Atrocities; Legal Implications for As'ad, Wiranto, CIA. Hendropriyono: Part 1."

On Tuesday, February 10, at 10:00 am WIB I will testify to the Indonesian police (POLDA Metro Jaya) in connection with a criminal case against the general brought by massacre survivors and their families.

They are contending that Gen. Hendro committed criminal libel ("pencemaran nama baik") when he said to me, in this interview, that the Talangsari victims -- hundreds of them, all at once -- "committed suicide" ("bunuh diri").]

By Allan NairnJakarta
General A.M. Hendropriyono, one of Indonesia's most powerful figures,
has admitted "command responsibility" in the assassination of the
country's leading rights activist.
In two nighttime interviews at his Jakarta mansion on October 16
Hendropriyono made statements that appear to open him to prosecution and
may create problems for the CIA, the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI), and
for Joko Widodo -- Jokowi -- Indonesia's new president.
Hendropriyono is a key Jokowi adviser, is a core leader of the TNI, and
was working with the CIA when his intelligence unit, BIN, killed the
activist Munir.
In detailed, on-the-record discussions with me Hendropriyono, perhaps
inadvertently, ended up submitting himself to close questioning.
By the time it was over he had abandoned some of his and TNI's longest
standing defenses, and had agreed to stand trial for three major
atrocities: the Munir murder, the 1999 terror campaign that devastated
occupied East Timor, and the 1989 Talangsari massacre that earned him
the nickname "the Butcher of Lampung."
Hendropriyono also ended up agreeing that he was calling for the release
of all internal documents held by the Indonesian and US governments
relating to these cases.
By admitting "command responsibility" and opening to the door to certain
facts, Hendropriyono places legal pressure on two men -- the general,
Wiranto and the intelligenge man, As'ad -- who have moved to the center
stage of Indonesian politics after being touted for the Jokowi cabinet.
The encounter with Hendropriyono was unexpected and at times bizarre.
The first session started with him trying to flatter me, and ended with
me telling him that I hoped Munir's killers would be jailed for life.
In between, the discussion was, at times, complex. It will be described in several installments.-----
I had called Hendropriyono's cell phone, from New York, on October 14
hoping that I could get a comment from him on his role in killing
civilians.
During last summer's Indonesian presidential campaign that resulted in
Jokowi's election, I had repeatedly called for Hendro to be tried for
crimes against humanity.
But what got far more attention, indeed, at times saturation coverage,
was my running confrontation with Jokowi's opponent, General Prabowo. I
had published an off-the record interview with Prabowo in which Prabowo
ruminated on fascist dictatorship, talked about how to do massacres, discussed his extensive work with the Pentagon/ US Intelligence, and insulted the highly regarded cleric and late President, Gus Dur.
Prabowo demanded that the army capture me, called me a liar, an American
imperialist, an "enemy of the state," and pointed out -- correctly --
that the TNI had previously captured me seven times and that Suharto had
banned me from the country as "a threat to national security."
Responding to Prabowo, TNI declared that I had become an "Operational
Target" (TO).
I challenged the army to grab me, challenged Prabowo to bring me to
court, and -- on the matter of American Imperialism -- challenged
Prabowo to join me in calling for the living US presidents to be put on
trial for atrocities, and for the US mining giant, Freeport McMoRan, to
be expelled from Indonesia. Prabowo backed down on all fronts and
received ridicule, so finally, on the campaign's last day, he filed
criminal charges against me. His aides later explained that among other
things the charges related to "inciting hatred of the army," and, after
the election results were in, "causing Prabowo to lose."
It was against this background that Hendropriyono, one of the pillars of
the Jokowi campaign, indicated that rather than talking on the phone he
wanted to talk in person, in Jakarta. I was heading to Jakarta anyway,
and within hours of entering the country, went to Hendro's corner
estate in Senayan, Jakarta.
As he entertained a delegation from Malaysian intelligence, and I waited
in a sitting room, a member of Hendro's family told me that Jokowi had
already offered him three ministries, including MENKOPOLKAM, the top
military/ intelligence post. Relatedly, just that day, Hendro's
son-in-law, General Andika, had been announced as the new head of
PASAMPRES, Jokowi's personal security detail. In a cabinet in front of
me was a photo of Hendro with Generals Wiranto and Sutiyoso, and to the
right a photo of Hendro with his old aide, General Susilo, who later
became President. In between was a bust of Napoleon -- a Hendro
favorite, a family member explained.
----
After he ushered me in, Hendro started by saying that he was "honored"
to meet and receive me because I had hurt Prabowo in the campaign. He
suggested that Prabowo was "totalitarian."
I replied that I attacked all the generals, including him.
Hendropriyono said he knew that, and said that if he was not mistaken I
had attacked him particularly for Talangsari.
I said that was true, but I had attacked him for many things, also including Munir and 1999 Timor.
Hendro wanted to talk about Talangsari first.
By all accounts -- including Hendro's to me, what had happened there had
been a bloodbath, but he started by saying: "There was no other way to
do it, Allan Nairn."
He said that as regional commander he controlled both the army and the
National Police BRIMOB, and moved in to confront religious militants who
were armed with "bows and arrows."
He said "They said I was togut. Togut means extremist who will always finish the Muslims..."He said of the rifles vs. arrows showdown, "Of course ... we won because we were stronger."
Hendro said: "We encircled the huts that they built in the village
together with the villagers. Nobody was out (of the huts) because of
forbidden by their chiefs, by their leaders... I said that 'we will
attack you and I ask you to go out from the house and surrender.'"Then at some point, by Hendro's account -- and that of everyone else -- the encircled huts went up in flames.

Survivors and witnesses say Hendro's men lit the fires, and shot and tortured unarmed villagers. Their
testimony to the government human rights commission (KOMNASHAM) and to
human rights groups like Munir's Kontras is detailed.

But, to my astonishment, as we sat
there in his Jakarta mansion, Hendropriyono said that the dead at
Talangsari had actually killed themselves.
"Suddenly they burned their own huts. That made so many people die," he said. (He estimated the death toll at 100, maybe 200, overwhelmingly unarmed, with many women and children)[Audio: "Attack the Huts:"]

So I said:
"As I'm sure you know, there are many witness testimonies from survivors
of Talangsari given to KOMNASHAM and others that say that those hundred
or 200 were killed by your troops, were killed by you in a massacre.
So why not face this in a trial? Would you agree to be put on trial
and make the argument in a court like you've just made to me?""Yeah, of course it was not true," Hendro replied, skirting the question.
I said: "You could say that in court. You could tell it to the judge."But again, Hendro did not want to answer.Instead, he digressed. He
started with an attack on "the Indonesian human rights organizations,"
i.e. Munir's Kontras, and similar groups.Hendro said that the human
rights groups had paid off witnesses to implicate him, a charge that was
ironic since it had been extensively reported that Hendro himself had
made payments to witnesses, for, he said at the time, religious
purposes. (When I later mentioned
Hendro's payoff charge to a table full of Kontras people, they were
shocked -- and couldn't stop laughing; "As if we had the cash!," one
exclaimed.)But the thing that most
bothered Hendro was the fact that the rights groups, including
KOMNASHAM, had agreed to hear testimony from child survivors of
Talangsari, ie. from people who were still minors at the time of the
inferno.He was evidently upset that these surviving children had been taken seriously.They "were still kids," he said. They "didn't know what was going on."It was, of course, the case that Talangsari child witnesses were resorted to. But this was because Hendro and his men had killed their parents, according to the rights groups.

And in fact there was testimony from adult survivors as well, and in any event child testimony was often used in such cases.

In 2013 I was called to testify in a
genocide trial in Guatemala. In the dock was the US-backed ex
dictator, General Efrain Rios Montt.

In that case, then-child testimony
was used extensively. Rios Montt was convicted of planned massacres and
sentenced to 80 years (the oligarchy later froze the case; the General
remains under house arrest.)

General Hendropriyono didn't want such testimony here.----But while complaining about the children, General Hendro appeared to slip up.He himself reopened the issue of possibly being compelled to stand trial."I'm quite sure that if we go
to court, (the) court will go and look at the witness(es)," he
remarked, his point being that the court would disregard the children
and false, paid-off witnesses.So I jumped in: "So then what
you're saying is that it should go to court, and you should be put on
trial for Talangsari, and you do not fear that, you would accept that?
You would accept being put on trial for Talangsari?"Hendro, paused, recoiled and mumbled: "I cannot, mmm, I think I have..."

And
then he said, incredibly: " If anybody instead of me -- say like
yourself -- if you were me at that time I'm quite sure that you would do
the same thing."

"No, I would not do the same thing," I replied. "I would not do the same thing."

"What would you do? Tell me, what you would do if you were me," the General insisted.

"I would not kill people," I said, but I wanted to get back to the point:

"But
I want to make sure I understand what you're saying. I just want to
get a clear understanding of it. Are you saying that you would accept
being put on trial for Talangsari? And then in the court you would make
your arguments and you would bring forth your evidence?"

"Oh yes of course!," Hendropriyono replied.

This appeared to be the breakthrough.

But I wanted to nail it down, and he hedged.

"So you would accept being put on trial for Talangsari?"

"At that time," he replied.

He was referring to 1989, the time of the massacre.

"I'm talking about now," I said. "Because that time has passed. I'm talking about now."

At this point, Hendropriyono's emotional -- and legal -- defenses appeared to break.

"Everything
that I did," he said, "everything that they accused me (of), there is
nothing for me to prefer not to accept. I will face."

The breakthrough had indeed happened. General Hendropriyono had agreed to face trial.

After
decades of the TNI -- and himself -- erecting defenses, excuses, for
not facing justice, this commanding general -- and CIA partner -- had
set a precedent.

"Because everything that I did, I'm not animal, I'm human," he said.

"And
you know, I feel, I have children, I have family, and I can feel how
they feel. So to me, I'm responsible for everything that I did and
there is nothing that I will refuse. I understand what you mean. If
there is a court for me for human rights violations, I will accept."

[Audio: Hendro Agrees to Stand Trial:]

----

This
Talangsari back-and-forth set the pattern for our discussion of other
atrocities: Hendropriyono reaching -- sometimes deeply implausibly -- to
assert that the corpses in question weren't exactly, really, his fault,
but at the same time owning up to the fact that, in the end, he had
been in charge, and that it was appropriate for he, the senior General,
to be placed on trial for murder.

This concession was fundamental, and it opened doors.

It had particularly significant repercussions for our later discussion regarding Munir.

NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below. NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages. NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below. Email Me

NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.
NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.
NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.
Email Me

General A.M. Hendropriyono, the CIA asset and presidential adviser, has been implicated by a secret report in the assassination of rights activist, Munir.

The report by an Indonesian government fact-finding commission led by a Police general found that Munir was an "operational target" of the intelligence unit Hendro led (BIN, Badan Intelijen Negara) and that an operation including "acts of terror" culminated in a "carefully planned" assassination.

The report referred Hendropriyono and other BIN personnel for criminal proceedings (paragraph 167) and revealed hitherto undisclosed evidence about the 2004 murder of the human rights legend.

At the same time, another secret document has surfaced implicating Hendro's deputy, As'ad, in placing a BIN agent in position to kill Munir by slipping him a lethal dose of arsenic.

As'ad -- with Hendro's backing -- is a leading candidate to become the new BIN chief.

The decision on the intelligence post is now being weighed by President Jokowi.

Though the documents are explosive on their face, they become still more significant when viewed together with other facts, including my interviews with the principals (e.g. Munir [2002], As'ad [2010], and Hendropriyono [2014]).

Munir told me on April 5, 2002 that Hendro -- like another US-backed general, Wiranto -- was sending mobs to attack him.

This is consistent with the secret report's finding that Munir, since at least 2002, was a BIN "operational target," and that operations against him included "acts of terror" that were later escalated to outright murder. (paragraphs 117, 118, 146, 147).

As'ad told me on May 27, 2010, that he and BIN worked with a doctor named Irawan (he also gave me Irawan's cell phone number and told me the doctor was in Aceh), who was a former special forces (Kopassus) Lt. Colonel who had an expertise in poisons.

The secret report names Irawan along with Hendropriyono in connection with the "conspiracy to kill Munir" (paragraphs 167, 82, 83).

US cables indicated that police investigators had found that Irawan had "allegedly developed the arsenic used to murder Munir" (Cable 07JAKARTA1223_a, published by Wikilileaks) and that a BIN document showed that a Kopassus/BIN doctor who fit Irawan's description had attended a Hendropriyono-chaired assassination-planning session at BIN in which "They agreed that Munir should be finished off by poisoning his food or drink" (Cable 08JAKARTA1825_a).

Official investigators told me in 2010 that they believed Irawan handled the poison.

----

Hendro told me on October 16, 2014 that he had "command responsibility" for murdering Munir, but he attempted to deny that he had ordered the assassination or that he or BIN had cared about Munir.

The secret report, however, refutes this claim at length.

It describes how BIN "gave special attention [to Munir] because Munir was regarded as having interfered with the interests of BIN" (paragraph 115). The report said that Munir had specifically interfered with Hendro's interests with a host of actions, including suing to stop his appointment as BIN chief (due to his command of the Talangsari massacre; See Hendropriyono: Part 1) and attempting to stop intelligence legislation that gave Hendro the power to issue guns and kidnap (paragraph 114).

When I asked Hendro if he had monitored Munir or if he had ever discussed Munir with the BIN men he flatly denied both, but the secret report shows that BIN documents and testimony refute this. The report says that Hendropriyono and his BIN third in command Gen. Muchdi approached two senior Munir associates in a futile attempt to stop Munir's attacks (paragraph 115).

The result of this failure, the report indicates, was a "careful" process of "planning to murder" that included choosing a "colorless, undetectable, odorless, quick-dissolving" poison, deploying the hands-on-assassin, and selecting the time and venue of killing in a manner that would make it difficult -- or impossible -- to save Munir and to assure that the killers would be able to "remove their traces" (paragraphs 119, 118-120, 137-145).

After being slipped arsenic at a coffee shop while in transit at the Singapore airport, Munir died, vomiting, in midair. They say he expired somewhere over Romania. His hands were beginning to turn blue.

Hendropriyono also admitted to me that -- as the Washington Post had reported -- he "worked very well with the CIA," carrying out kidnap/renditions for them and even meeting CIA chief George Tenet.

Both As'ad and Hendro told me that CIA and BIN had a "liaison relationship."

That relationship was in place at the time of the murder (and may still be active today).

Hendro met CIA before and after the killing, but, interestingly, Hendro told me the CIA never asked him who killed Munir and never in any way reprimanded him.

Hendro also said, in response to my question, that though his BIN was the national intelligence agency they never conducted their own investigation of the assassination that became a global issue.

But they did not mention that BIN, the unit reportedly behind it, had for years been on the US payroll.

----

The secret government report of the Tim Pencari Fakta (TPF) Munir can be read by scrolling through the Scribd box below .

The report was commissioned by the previous president, Gen. Susilo (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; "SBY"), but on -- presumably -- reading its contents, the General suppressed it.

A four-page summary and procedural fragments have previously leaked. The text below comprises the full 49-page, 1304-line report.

A report annex several hundred pages long will be published on this website shortly.

-----

The Full Secret TPF Report on the Munir Assassination

-------

The Scribd-box As'ad document below is from the BIN computer system.

It is the draft of a letter from As'ad ordering the Indonesian national airline, Garuda, to give cover and full access to the BIN agent, Pollycarpus.

In the guise of "internal security" and in the name of "national and state interest" the As'ad letter gave Polly the access he needed to get close to and poison Munir.

The edited, signed print-out of this letter was received by the Garuda director, Indra, but according to his testimony it later disappeared, as apparently did any copies that were officially archived in the files of BIN.

The As'ad letter print-out below (as is sometimes done, it spells his name As'at) was obtained by police file-recovery experts from a hard drive of the BIN computers that were being used by the office of Hendro's number 3, Gen. Muchdi.

A summary of the letter was referred to in the trial of Pollycarpus.

That proceeding and those against Muchdi were denounced by legal experts as farcical. There was open intimidation of witnesses, judges, and prosecutors, all the top BIN people (and President Megawati, to whom Hendro reported) -- and BIN as an institution -- got ignored, and key BIN witnesses who implicated Hendro or As'ad disappeared, recanted their testimony, fled the country and/or died.

Pollycarpus is in prison but could be released in two years. Muchdi was acquitted on appeal. Hendro's number 2 As'ad has not yet been charged -- instead, he could end up promoted.

Hendropriyono himself refused to cooperate and was left untouched.

But after I questioned him closely, in his home, this past October 16 Hendro admitted command responsibility (tanggung jawab komando) and said he was ready to stand trial for Munir, Talangsari and the '99 Timor terror.

Hendro also, when I pressed him, agreed that he was calling for the release of all documents held by the US or Indonesian governments relating to those three cases.

KOMNASHAM took the unusual step of releasing their classified reports on seven atrocities, and there are indications that they are looking to revive the Munir case.

As'ad was originally slated to be named as BIN chief a month ago, but the BIN announcement has been delayed and delayed as Jokowi wrestles with the Hendro fallout.

Hendro has called associates to ask if he mishandled his interview with me.

Some generals are said to be furious, feeling Hendro has endangered the system.

His admission of "command responsibility" indeed has implications for all his colleagues, since if Hendro has command responsibility for the assassination of Munir, then other generals have it too for atrocities by their subordinates.

Among those now drawn into this web is Gen. Ryamizard, the new Defense Minister, who bears such responsibility for massacres during the Aceh State of Emergency. (Ryamizard openly defends such murders. See: "Gen. Ryamizard, the Ideologist for Killing Civilians").

Indonesian prosecutors have the right to subpoena US personnel and documents.

They also have the right to indict US officials as accomplices to murder.

Jokowi's pick as attorney general has been derided as a political hack.

But that official, Prasetyo, made an interesting point.

The new attorney general said he was a "puppet," awaiting orders from the president.

And he's right, the president sets policy.

The question now becomes: whither Jokowi?

Is he brave enough to stop the killers?

And, if he isn't, will the people make him?

----

End of Hendropriyono: Part 2

Coming Up: Hendropriyono: Part 3

NOTE TO READERS: News and Comment is looking for assistance with translating blog postings into other languages, and also with fund raising and distributing the blog content more widely. Those interested please get in touch via the e-mail link below.
NOTE TO READERS RE. TRANSLATION: Portions of News and Comment are now available in Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Danish, French, German, Russian and Spanish translation (click preceding links or Profile link above) but translation help is still needed -- particularly with older postings, in these and all other languages.
NOTE TO READERS RE. POTENTIAL EVIDENCE: News and Comment is looking for public and private documents and first-hand information that could develop into evidence regarding war crimes or crimes against humanity by officials. Please forward material via the email link below.
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